Commentary on quotations from a variety of folks. Some famous....and some not. To receive Jack's Winning Words via email, send an email with "Subscribe" in the subject line to jhfreed@hotmail.com

Friday, May 15, 2015

Jack’s Winning Words 5/15/15“Laundry is the only thing that should be separated by color.” (Nietzsche) Yogi Berra wrote a book, “I Never Said All Of The Things I Said.” People often attributed sayings to him, because “it sounded like Yogi.” Today’s words don’t even sound like Nietzsche, and still a source cites him as the author. The truth is in the quote itself. Too much effort in this world is spent on separating people than on trying to bring them together. ;-) Jack

FROM TARMART REV: Even a Lutheran and a Pentecostal can be best of friends . . . as long as we leave those Rattlesnakes covered in their baskets during worship!!====JACK: Have you ever been at a snake handling service?

FROM MICHIZONA RAY: The real irony is in first making the distinction, and secondly, developing some sort of "pride" in the distinction, and finally, arguing for an "equality" which caused the differentiation through the very distinction generated. We create and point out differences that by virtue of them generate divisions, then complain about the divisions we generated. The best distinction regarding people is that we are all different. Differences generate inequalities; and as such, we are all equal by virtue of our inequalities. External identifiers of oneself are of little value for they are of the dirt AND WILL DIE. So why do we place so much value on it? Are these inconsequential identifications who I truly am? I am not my body, or a "race" that other men have determined, nor a gendered class, nor a person of a man-made boundary designed geographically (nation), etc. Who we are is so much more significant than that which will die...and one cannot serve two masters...in this case the nonsense from man or the breath (Spirit) of Life from God (who I am). I am a child of God, and so are you. We comprise the Body of Christ, the Church...and we say so every Sunday (and hopefully multiple time per day). Who says, "I am ____" (man, woman, black, white, rich, poor, U.S., Mexican, etc.) and can also claim the wisdom of the Spirit. It is better to be silent and live by the Grace of God alone.====JACK: Philosophically (and theologically) that's true, but try to explain that to "the man on the street" who has suffered racial, economic, religious, academic (et al) separations. "Show me what your words mean!"====RAY: How can I explain injustice by or upon another except as it is by ignorance of the Truth? Would the "man on the street" be any less defiled if it was told to him that it is man's ignorance that (s)he lives by a limited insight or a blindness brought about through the deception of evil? It is the Word that gives Life...and that is where the meaning of my words emirate. Those who use their words to deceive promote these distinctions which serve to perpetuate divisions. In my mind, all of this is the fruit of man's first sin -- eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now we know that we are naked, now we know that we are different from one another, now we know we will die, now we know that there are colors, and now we know that we are alone -- so we seek out others "like ourselves" to relieve some of the angst that accompanies all this "knowledge". Man behaves out of ignorance, despite his self-agradizing "achievement". If a person doesn't KNOW this, how could they explain it? Or, how would knowing such things fill one's stomach? So, we are to live in a manner that is synchronous with this knowing - or we simply fall into the same category for those whom Jesus prayed, "forgive them Father, for they know not what they do". I don't think explanations serve any purpose unless they enlighten the blind...then when one can "see", one will serve the "man on the street" instead of merely explaining something to him.====JACK: What I was trying to say....There are some folk who (because of limited education) are not able to process the points that you make. How do you capture their attention and help them to understand and relate to what you are saying/writing? In my work, I believe that people would "rather see a sermon that hear one any day."====RAY: I think as individuals we need to do both. just as Faith without works is dead, so are words without sincerity of action. It is my interpretation from reading Nietzsche, that his famous statement, "God is dead", comes from his witness of the incongruity of the "words" and the (lack of) action by those who make the claim that God exists for them. God is indeed alive in both word and deed. For the man on the street to understand, (s)he must see the sermon AND hear the words. (By the way, I wasn't disagreeing with you; I was emphasizing a point that "explanations" are for the academics, newscasters, politics, and others who are of little production. I think the Church is being re-tooled or re-energized or re-formed, to coin a phrase, so that the man on street will hear the Good News while clothed and on a full stomach!) thank you for listening!

FROM RI IN BOSTON: Amen!====JACK: If you were on Facebook, you might simply have said, "Like!"====RI: I was on Facebook for a brief period but I began getting deluged with so much trivia that I bailed. As I read, I come across a lot of requests to "Like us on Facebook." =====JACK: I choose not to use Facebook for posting Winning Words, because I like the more personal responses, using e-mail.

FROM CHESTER THE GOOD: Reminds me of my all time favorite coke commercial, "I'd like to teach the world to sing...". Might be my all time favorite. Period.====JACK: ...and Barbra Streisand's "People" song.

3 comments:

Ray Gage
said...

The real irony is in first making the distinction, and secondly, developing some sort of "pride" in the distinction, and finally, arguing for an "equality" which caused the differentiation through the very distinction generated. We create and point out differences that by virtue of them generate divisions, then complain about the divisions we generated. The best distinction regarding people is that we are all different. Differences generate inequalities; and as such, we are all equal by virtue of our inequalities. External identifiers of oneself are of little value for they are of the dirt AND WILL DIE. So why do we place so much value on it? Are these inconsequential identifications who I truly am? I am not my body, or a "race" that other men have determined, nor a gendered class, nor a person of a man-made boundary designed geographically (nation), etc. Who we are is so much more significant than that which will die...and one cannot serve two masters...in this case the nonsense from man or the breath (Spirit) of Life from God (who I am). I am a child of God, and so are you. We comprise the Body of Christ, the Church...and we say so every Sunday (and hopefully multiple time per day). Who says, "I am ____" (man, woman, black, white, rich, poor, U.S., Mexican, etc.) and can also claim the wisdom of the Spirit. It is better to be silent and live by the Grace of God alone.

How can I explain injustice by or upon another except as it is by ignorance of the Truth? Would the "man on the street" be any less defiled if it was told to him that it is man's ignorance that (s)he lives by a limited insight or a blindness brought about through the deception of evil? It is the Word that gives Life...and that is where the meaning of my words emirate. Those who use their words to deceive promote these distinctions which serve to perpetuate divisions. In my mind, all of this is the fruit of man's first sin -- eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now we know that we are naked, now we know that we are different from one another, now we know we will die, now we know that there are colors, and now we know that we are alone -- so we seek out others "like ourselves" to relieve some of the angst that accompanies all this "knowledge". Man behaves out of ignorance, despite his self-agradizing "achievement". If a person doesn't KNOW this, how could they explain it? Or, how would knowing such things fill one's stomach? So, we are to live in a manner that is synchronous with this knowing - or we simply fall into the same category for those whom Jesus prayed, "forgive them Father, for they know not what they do". I don't think explanations serve any purpose unless they enlighten the blind...then when one can "see", one will serve the "man on the street" instead of merely explaining something to him.

I think as individuals we need to do both. just as Faith without works is dead, so are words without sincerity of action. It is my interpretation from reading Nietzsche, that his famous statement, "God is dead", comes from his witness of the incongruity of the "words" and the (lack of) action by those who make the claim that God exists for them. God is indeed alive in both word and deed. For the man on the street to understand, (s)he must see the sermon AND hear the words. (By the way, I wasn't disagreeing with you; I was emphasizing a point that "explanations" are for the academics, newscasters, politics, and others who are of little production. I think the Church is being re-tooled or re-energized or re-formed, to coin a phrase, so that the man on street will hear the Good News while clothed and on a full stomach!) thank you for listening!